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Published at 7th of July 2019 05:02:32 PM


Chapter 17

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After we finished eating, we proceeded on down to the fifth level. There were very few small rooms on this level; instead it was made up of a combination of several very large, expansive spaces. This dungeon was supposed to have been a temple once, and the furnishings gave truth to those stories, but down here on the fifth level there was very little in the way of extravagance. Instead, it all seemed rather…bare.

Grace passed cautiously through the first area and into the second. As she entered she paused for a moment, but it didn’t take more than a few heartbeats before she was off again, proceeding towards the center of the spacious room.

In the center of the room was what appeared to be adventurer’s equipment strewn about: swords and armor. The swords were snapped, while the armor was dented all over. It would have taken quite a lot of force to cause this much damage.

There was no sign of those who had owned the equipment. They were injured for sure, but it seemed it wasn’t so bad that their corpses were lying about.

“――There might be an Ogre around.” Grace said matter-of-factly. They are massive creatures with tremendous power. They aren’t very strong against magic though, but if there are more than just a few, we might be in trouble.”

“――Clive, could you withstand an Ogre’s attack?” At my question, Clive spoke up.

“If the Ogre was barehanded, I should be able to manage. Though I would still take some damage. If it has a weapon…then things will depend on what that weapon is.”

“I see.” If there were a bunch, we would have to fight them in packs that Clive could manage. Grace, with her skills at evasion and retreat shouldn’t be an issue; it was Sylvia and myself that would be up a creek without a paddle if we needed to fight multiple Ogres at once. It was a saving grace that Return could be used in dungeons, but we need to be extra careful not to mess up when and where that spell should be used.

In the end there was nothing in the second room besides the weapons and armor strewn about, and we passed on into the third room without issue. The third room was just as enormous as the last, but with pillars situated at set locations around the room. As soon as Grace was about to step foot into the room, she paused, looking around cautiously.

“――Is something wrong?”

“There might be some kind of spell being used. I can feel the remnants of some magical energy, but I haven’t a clue what kind of magic it was――”

Sadly, even with my eyesight, I was unable to see those traces of magical energy.

“There is no harm in being a little more cautious. Let me re-enchant everybody.” With that, I gave the orders and we were soon in battle formation.

Apart from the normal enchants, I also included the skill I had learned yesterday: enchantments that activate upon physical contact. I cast Magicball on Grace’s sword, and Magicwall on all of our armor and my gauntlet.

“Alright, Grace and Clive, switch places please. Sylvia, you’ll start debuffing the enemy as soon as the target is fixed.”

“Understood.”

Following my orders, Grace and Clive traded places.

There was an instant where the watch Clive wore around his neck passed into view. In my mind, I could see Clive as he spoke about “never letting any of his companions die in front of him again”. Clive would do anything and everything in his power to ensure we were protected.

“――Clive, could you wait a moment.”

“――???”

With a certain thought held tightly in mind, I called out to Clive who had started moving forward to take the lead.

 

After we finished our preparations, we proceeded on into the room in our battle formation. It’s not as if any of us had seen anything yet, but still the mood was heavy. It was nothing more than a feeling, but that feeling still bespoke of something nasty about to happen here in this room.

There was flash of motion, and I caught a glimpse of something moving swiftly out of the corner of my vision. But turning to face it, I saw nothing. But in the next moment, a creature showed itself fully, and there was no mistaking it.

――Letters and numbers.

In the space before us, there was nothing visible, but there was still something invisible to the eye. As though pointing to its existence, its status was clearly visible at the location of the thing.

“Be careful, there is something hiding up ahead.” I said, warning the other three. There was still some space between us and the hidden enemy. It too seemed to be watching, waiting…not actively approaching.

“——Kei, if we hit it with magic, it won’t be able to remain invisible.” Grace said, advising me. It seems the creature realized I was following it with my eyes.

“Okay. In that case, I’ll initiate. Clive, I’m counting on you to take aggro.” With that, I took aim…then released several Large Pistol Magicballs at the enemy. I had considered sending in a Special-grade Large Magicball, but decided to focus just on revealing the enemy; so I chose the smaller, higher accuracy option.

Most of them managed to contact the creature’s body. There was probably no real damage done, but after a few short moments, the creature’s form began to fade into view before us, until it was completely visible.

“——Very surprising. It’s hard to believe there is someone who can see me.” A man who resembled a dark-elf said, twisting his lips into a grin as he gazed mockingly towards me.

“——I’m the type that can’t help wanting to swat a fly if it flies in front right in front of me.” I said, trying to keep my voice strong and confident. But in truth, my heart was thudding hard against my chest. Until now, all the enemies we had faced had all been monsters; none had spoken in a language understandable to humans. But when the enemy spoke coherently…It caused me to recall the fight with Rodney. I couldn’t help but feel that something very, very bad was about to happen.

The man before me laughed as he heard my reply.

“Insects do sometimes tend to fly straight into the flame, burning themselves to cinders. But you have no right to laugh and call those insects foolish. ——Why? Because you yourselves has stepped right into the Ogre’s feeding ground.”

“————”

At his words, all of us stiffened. If I had messed up the timing anywhere, it was here. I had no reason to leisurely converse with the man before me.

If I had been focusing on everyone’s safety, then as soon as I heard the footsteps, I should have used Return.

In the next instant, the Dark-Elf with that crooked smile on his face, lifted his right hand high into the air. As soon as his hand was up, the scene before me became tinted with yellow.

“——!!”

“T, this is——!”

“What is this——!?”

A sudden sense of intense numbness, difficult to withstand, seemed to engulf my entire body. But it wasn’t just me. This entire room had just been put under the debuff spell, Bind.

“The Ogres don’t like it much if their prey goes wild, you see. So I do apologize but I’ve made it so you cannot move.” As he finished speaking, he laughed through his nose, smiling that twisted smile as he looked me over. He was obviously enjoying how I, after seeing through his Vanishing, had fallen right into this next trap.

But it wasn’t just my body that was unable to move. My mental fortitude which I needed to cast magic was also being disrupted. ——We are in serious trouble.

“Kei! What do we do——” Sylvia said in a strained voice, unable to move. I couldn’t detect signs of movement from Grace of Clive either. The way things stood, I won’t even be able to use Return. From all around us I could hear footsteps, whether they belonged to Ogres or not.

“Hahaha——! Now, please you must let me excuse myself. ——The Ogres don’t have much sense of table manners when they eat, you see.” With that, the Dark-Elf turned his back on our party. He was trying to leave, without even making himself invisible again.

With only a single gleam of hope, I examined the man whose back was towards us.

I wasn’t expecting to suddenly come up with a plan based on knowing his stats, only that it might give me the chance to see a way out of this mess.

Name: Crute

Age: ???

Class: ???

Level: 54

Status: ???

Skills: ???, ???, ???, Vanishing, Spying 5, Debuff 6, ???, ???, ???, ???, Harlandish* (TL Note: This means the language spoken in Harland)

Title: The Handsome Elf, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, Disciple of Arabella

Equipment: Unknown

Status: Unknown

I had not ignored the possibility of this. But still, until this exact moment I had never tried to even actively recognize it. The more I thought about how limited my ability to perceive a things Status was, the angrier I became.

As I examined the Dark-Elf…Crute’s status, I felt my body growing hotter and hotter by the second. But, shamefully, we had walked right into this trap, and come like pigs to the slaughter, right into the dead center of the Ogre’s feeding ground.

There was nothing, absolutely nothing we could do to get out of this.

After Crute finished departing, five large Ogres appeared together with the sound of their heavy footfalls and beastial grunting. They were all on par with Clive for size, and the ugliest of monsters I had yet seen. Each of the Ogres held an unadorned wooden club. That in and of itself was not very intimidating as far as weapons went, but the clubs were much larger than what any normal human could wield. If they were beat with clubs that held the full brunt of Ogre might behind the blow, there wouldn’t be much of them left for sure.

I checked my own status. My status section showed Bind, and the time left before it wears off is…eight minutes.

“Wai——No! Can’t we do anything about this!?” Sylvia’s voice sounded feverish, to be expected given the current circumstances. Grace’s eyes were the only thing that moved as she shifted her gaze towards me.

“Kei——”

I received her gaze, filled with pleading desperation, in silence.

Actually, I was quite confident Grace and Sylvia would not immediately end up as Ogre food. The problem was going to be the eight long minutes. Can we hold out that long——?

Right after that thought flashed across my mind, the Ogres roared, spittle spraying out from their drooling maws, as they rushed towards us. Sylvia screamed, and as she did——Something the two of them had not been expecting happened.

A Wave of Pressure washed over everything throughout the room.

Clive, who had been standing at the front, suddenly moved; lashing out with a Taunt towards the large Ogres. The Ogres, who had been about to rip all four of us apart, all changed direction to charge straight for Clive. Clive, who had remained silent and un-moving until this point. Clive, who held a debuff fortification skill of the sixth degree.

——Clive alone had managed to resist Crute’s Bind spell.





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